GAMEATHLON and the Game Developers Association of Greece co-organized this year’s Hellenic Game Awards(HeGA). This shared event’s goal was to improve the recognition of Greek game development both internally and in the global market, while also hoping to whet the appetite of young gamers in Greece to take up the mantle of game development themselves. An event dedicated exclusively to games made in Greece, and to the abundance of talent in our community of game developers. The main pillars were two: awards ( Game of the Year ) and creation ( Day-Zero ).
For the Hellenic Game Awards 2023, co-organized by Gameathlon and the Game Developers Association of Greece, almost 20 games were collected, all of them made in Greece. This means they were created by teams / companies which are either (i) based in Greece, (ii) owned by Greeks, or (iii) have most of their workforce either be of Greek ethnicity, or work in Greece.
Submissions to Game of the Year:
Productions with an official release date within 2022.
Λέξαθλον by Legenbeary Games [Google Play] [App Store]
Apotheorasis • Lab of the Blind Gods by Tall Guy Productions [Steam]
Byzantine Chess by StrigiformGames [Google Play]
Chicken Invaders Universe by InterAction studios [Steam]
Orbi's chronicles by IMPERIAL DYNAMICS IKE [Steam]
Outlander by IMPERIAL DYNAMICS IKE [Steam]
SCP-106: The escape by Hallucinogames Studio [Itch IO]
Ship Simulator Realistic by ShipRealisticInc [Steam]
The Sweet Treats Man! by Stathis Tsasakos [Itch IO]
Westwood Shadows by RedSoup Studios [Steam]
Submissions to Day Zero: Production with zero public presence before 28/01/23
For the 9 categories of Game of the Year, the following games were selected:
Gameplay: Westwood Shadows
Narrative: Westwood Shadows
Audio: Apotheorasis • Lab of the Blind Gods
Visuals: Westwood Shadows
Innovation: Apotheorasis • Lab of the Blind Gods
Marketing: Westwood Shadows
Audience Choice: The Sweet Treats Man!
Game of the Year - Mobile: Λέξαθλον
Game of the Year: Westwood Shadows
By the following committee:
Pantelis Daskalelos, Editor at IGN
Kostas Karpouzis, Professor at Panteio University
George Loukakis, UX researcher at Niantic Incorporate
Pavlos Papapavlou, Editor at ENTERNITY
Garnet Lee, Scout, Producer and Marketer at Raw Fury
While for Day Zero, the following demos were selected:
Audience Choice: Insect Dude! Underground Roots Finalist: The Cabin in the Woodn't
Finalist: The Roots Of All Our Problems
Finalist + Grand Prix: Roots of Evil
By the following committe:
Pantelis Daskalelos, Editor at IGN
Spyridon Kakouris, Freelance DevOps Engineer
Dimitris - Marios Kalyvas, Level Designer at Forgotten Empires
Maria Saridaki, Creative Director at Trust in Play: School of Urban Game Design
Antonis Liapis, Senior Lecturer at Institute of Digital Games, University of Malta
The awards were given during a ceremony which took place on the central stage of Gameathlon (Tae Kwon Do stadium) during the evening of Saturday the 25th of February [Video (in Greek)]. The ceremony lasted an hour, and consisted of trailers for the finalists in each category, followed by short presentations by the award givers, and an acceptance speech by the awardees.
The list of award givers is as follows:
-Hilda Alisandratou: Director of Investment and Promotion (Tourism, Real Estate & Creative Industries) at Enterprise Greece
-Pantelis Daskalelos: IGN, Evaluator in both of the evaluation committees for Hellenic Game Awards 2023
-Andreas “Cowboy” Derdemezis: General Manager at Cowboy TV and Gameathlon
-George Thanos: Head of Animation Department at SAE
-John Mamalis: Brand Manager for Greece & Balkans at CD Media
-Elina Roinioti: Network and Communications Manager at gi-Cluster
-Athanasios Staveris: Secretary General of Telecommunications & Posts at the Greek Ministry of Digital Governance -Monika Tsilimperdi: Προϊσταμένη της Διεύθυνσης Ανάπτυξης Σύγχρονης Δημιουργίας της Γενικής Διεύθυνσης Σύγχρονου Πολιτισμού
Dimitris Christopoulos: Manager at the Virtual Reality Center of the Foundation of Hellenic World
-Leonidas Christopoulos: General Secretary of Digital Governance and Procedures at the Greek Ministry of Digital Governance
-Christina Chrysanthopoulou: Chief Financial Officer at the Game Developers Association of Greece
Finally, the graphics (logo) that was used for the Hellenic Game Awards 2023, was created by Antriana Alifragki.
The organizers would like to thank everyone who helped make this event into a reality, and hopes Greece will see more and more of these successful, synergetic collaborations in the future.
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